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Register a new userThe Densities of Planets in Multiple Stellar Systems
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We analyze the effect of companion stars on the bulk density of 29 planets orbiting 15 stars in the Kepler field. These stars have at least one stellar companion within 2, and the planets have measured masses and radii, allowing an estimate of their bulk density. The transit dilution by the companion star requires the planet radii to be revised upward, even if the planet orbits the primary star; as a consequence, the planetary bulk density decreases. We find that, if planets orbited a faint companion star, they would be more volatile-rich, and in several cases their densities would become unrealistically low, requiring large, inflated atmospheres or unusually large mass fractions in a H/He envelope. In addition, for planets detected in radial velocity data, the primary star has to be the host. We can exclude 14 planets from orbiting the companion star; the remaining 15 planets in seven planetary systems could orbit either the primary or the secondary star, and for five of these planets the decrease in density would be substantial even if they orbited the primary, since the companion is of almost equal brightness as the primary. Substantial follow-up work is required in order to accurately determine the radii of transiting planets. Of particular interest are small, rocky planets that may be habitable; a lower mean density might imply a more volatile-rich composition. Reliable radii, masses, and thus bulk densities will allow us to identify which small planets are truly Earth-like.
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Analyzing exoplanets detected by radial velocity or transit observations, we determine the multiplicity of exoplanet host stars in order to study the influence of a stellar companion on the properties of planet candidates. Matching the host stars of exoplanet candidates detected by radial velocity or transit observations with online multiplicity catalogs in addition to a literature search, 57 exoplanet host stars are identified having a stellar companion. The resulting multiplicity rate of at least 12 percent for exoplanet host stars is about four times smaller than the multiplicity of solar like stars in general. The mass and the number of planets in stellar multiple systems depend on the separation between their host star and its nearest stellar companion, e.g. the planetary mass decreases with an increasing stellar separation. We present an updated overview of exoplanet candidates in stellar multiple systems, including 15 new systems (compared to the latest summary from 2009).
We present a study of the relative sizes of planets within the multiple candidate systems discovered with the $Kepler$ mission. We have compared the size of each planet to the size of every other planet within a given planetary system after correcting the sample for detection and geometric biases. We find that for planet-pairs for which one or both objects is approximately Neptune-sized or larger, the larger planet is most often the planet with the longer period. No such size--location correlation is seen for pairs of planets when both planets are smaller than Neptune. Specifically, if at least one planet in a planet-pair has a radius of $gtrsim 3R_oplus$, $68pm 6%$ of the planet pairs have the inner planet smaller than the outer planet, while no preferred sequential ordering of the planets is observed if both planets in a pair are smaller than $lesssim3 R_oplus$.
We use 3D hydrodynamics simulations followed by synthetic line profile calculations to examine the effect increasing the strength of the stellar wind has on observed Ly-$alpha$ transits of a Hot Jupiter (HJ) and a Warm Neptune (WN). We find that increasing the stellar wind mass-loss rate from 0 (no wind) to 100 times the solar mass-loss rate value causes reduced atmospheric escape in both planets (a reduction of 65% and 40% for the HJ and WN, respectively, compared to the no wind case). For weaker stellar winds (lower ram pressure), the reduction in planetary escape rate is very small. However, as the stellar wind becomes stronger, the interaction happens deeper in the planetary atmosphere and, once this interaction occurs below the sonic surface of the planetary outflow, further reduction in evaporation rates is seen. We classify these regimes in terms of the geometry of the planetary sonic surface. Closed refers to scenarios where the sonic surface is undisturbed, while open refers to those where the surface is disrupted. We find that the change in stellar wind strength affects the Ly-$alpha$ transit in a non-linear way. Although little change is seen in planetary escape rates ($simeq 5.5times 10^{11}$g/s) in the closed to partially open regimes, the Ly-$alpha$ absorption (sum of the blue [-300, -40 km/s] & red [40, 300 km/s] wings) changes from 21% to 6% as the stellar wind mass-loss rate is increased in the HJ set of simulations. For the WN simulations, escape rates of $simeq 6.5times 10^{10}$g/s can cause transit absorptions that vary from 8.8% to 3.7%, depending on the stellar wind strength. We conclude that the same atmospheric escape rate can produce a range of absorptions depending on the stellar wind and that neglecting this in the interpretation of Ly-$alpha$ transits can lead to underestimation of planetary escape rates.
The gap between two component debris disks is often taken to be carved by intervening planets scattering away the remnant planetesimals. We employ N-body simulations to determine how the time needed to clear the gap depends on the location of the gap and the mass of the planets. We invert this relation, and provide an equation for the minimum planet mass, and another for the expected number of such planets, that must be present to produce an observed gap for a star of a given age. We show how this can be combined with upper limits on the planetary system from direct imaging non-detections (such as with GPI or SPHERE) to produce approximate knowledge of the planetary system.
Since the discovery of the transiting super-Earth CoRoT-7b, several investigations have yielded different results for the number and masses of planets present in the system, mainly owing to the stars high level of activity. We re-observed CoRoT-7 in January 2012 with both HARPS and CoRoT, so that we now have the benefit of simultaneous radial-velocity and photometric data. This allows us to use the off-transit variations in the stars light curve to estimate the radial-velocity variations induced by the suppression of convective blueshift and the flux blocked by starspots. To account for activity-related effects in the radial-velocities which do not have a photometric signature, we also include an additional activity term in the radial-velocity model, which we treat as a Gaussian process with the same covariance properties (and hence the same frequency structure) as the light curve. Our model was incorporated into a Monte Carlo Markov Chain in order to make a precise determination of the orbits of CoRoT-7b and CoRoT-7c. We measure the masses of planets b and c to be 4.73 +/- 0.95 Mearth and 13.56 +/- 1.08 Mearth, respectively. The density of CoRoT-7b is (6.61 +/- 1.72)(Rp/1.58 Rearth)^(-3) g.cm^(-3), which is compatible with a rocky composition. We search for evidence of an additional planet d, identified by previous authors with a period close to 9 days. We are not able to confirm the existence of a planet with this orbital period, which is close to the second harmonic of the stellar rotation at around 7.9 days. Using Bayesian model selection we find that a model with two planets plus activity-induced variations is most favoured.
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